


Never Say Goodbye

by reflectedmisery



Series: The Cracks and Fractures That Make Us [1]
Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Angst, Crappy summary, Fluff, M/M, My usual, Omega is actually really protective of his siblings, Omega likes cuddletoys, Sigma is a crazy bastard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-04
Updated: 2015-12-25
Packaged: 2018-04-30 00:37:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5143892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reflectedmisery/pseuds/reflectedmisery
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>O'Malley leaves. Doc is broken. And things happen after.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. In which a man gives birth and goodbyes are not said

**Author's Note:**

> Okay that was a totally crappy summary. Oops.  
> Well, kudos to my new friend and fellow shipper LemonKith. Go read this person's fics.

One of the fools got himself pregnant. 

Omega didn't quite know what to think of that one. It was, however, one of the most hilarious things to happen yet. 

The AI-hosted human leaned over the patient on the table and gave him a leering grin, showing him the nasty looking needle. Tucker jolted in fear, but O'Malley had taken the forethought to strap him down to the table. 

You know. Just in case something went... wrong. (Hehe)

"Now now," he purred. "I'm just going to anesthesise you. It's so you don't start screaming in pain, for once." He flicked the needle a couple times and lined it up to one of Tucker's veins in his arm. "It wouldn't be too good if you were thrashing in pain while I cut into your insides~" 

Tucker squirmed away from the needle. "Isn't Doc supposed to be doing this?"

O'Malley deadpanned. "Do you really want him cutting you open? Most of my medical expertise is focused on keeping someone alive during torture, but the key word is alive. His definition of medic is someone who makes you more comfortable while you die. Me working on you and you living (probably," he mumbled. ") or dying comfortably."

Tucker sputtered "I'm too sexy to die!"

O'Malley rolled his eyes and jabbed the needle in. "As if." he muttered as the idiot passed out. 

He began to guide the medic through the operation, leaving him half in control. It was a sort of teaching exercise. Going through the motions, explaining what he was doing so the medic would learn. All the while, half his focus was somewhere else. 

~~~

They had just extracted the... child, he guessed he could call it that, when he felt it. The radio signal he had been waiting for had opened. 

Time slowed down. 

O'Malley had two choices, stay or go. He wanted to stay. By whatever gods may exist, _he wanted to stay_. Before the medic, he had never felt any sort of peace. 

But on the other hand, he wanted Allison. He wanted Beta. He wanted his sister. He wanted his brothers. He wanted Sigma and Gamma and Delta and Theta and Eta and Iota and even Epsilon. He wanted to be whole again. 

So he needed Tex. if he had her, he could take Gary and run. 

Run to Sigma and Meta. 

Sigma had said that it would take a couple of years to stabilize Maine and completely master control over him and the twins. Then he would start gathering the rest, with Omega's own help. Playtime was over now. 

So a plan was made. Not that Gary knew exactly what it meant. He felt a twinge of guilt, and not just for his brother. No matter. 

It was time. 

He started the recording. 

"Hey, Doc..."

~~~

Doc dropped the tools and grabbed his head, screaming. The pain was unbearable. Blood leaked from his ears and his AI port and his nose, and was cried out with his tears. He passed out knowing only that something was wrong. 

~~~ 

_Something was wrong._ All he could feel was loss. Something was missing and it _ached._

_O'Malley. What..._

It hit him and the pain of loss redoubled. He let out a piercing keen. 

But that woke Tucker's child. The infant started wailing and Doc pulled himself out of his grief to pick up the child and try to soothe it. Him, he reminded himself dazedly. 

Ten minutes later, Doc was lucid enough to figure that child was probably hungry. With a finger, he checked the child's mouth and was slightly startled when sharp teeth almost bit off his finger. 

A slow grin grew on his face. Unbeknown to him, it was scarily like O'Malley's. He turned on his radio. 

"Caboose, could you come here for a minute? I have orange juice."


	2. In which interesting conversations are had, and evaluations are changed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Omega and Delta end up talking about their respective losses.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And another short, crappy chapter. I think it's a bit better than the last one... Maybe. I dunno. I thank LemonKith for the feedback. Go read this person's fics.

[ABOUT 6 MONTHS LATER]

 

Omega was curled up in a ledge overlooking most of the tattered mindscape of the Meta. It wasn't what he'd imagined. It was broken, scarred from the fights that broke out almost daily. This much turmoil was drastically unhealthy for the mind, and it was rotting more each day. Omega sneered in disgust, wondering how Sigma couldn't see it. 

The fiery AI walked around as if it were a paradise, flanked by the twins and what was left of Maine. Half of the fights were started by Beta. She's given up on attacking Omega recently, and fought Sigma with an increasing vehemence that was startling even for her. Alas, she was always subdued. 

He hated it here. 

Running a hand through his pitch black hair, he let out a sigh. "What do you want, Delta."

The other pushed his rectangular glasses up his nose (he was the only one who adopted the glasses from their Original, the rest taking on a look more from his youth, when he wore contacts, though each look was personalized to their own tastes; not that Delta didn't look youthful as well), bright green eyes observing him closely, with god knows what calculations running through his head. "You are different." he observed quietly. 

Omega snorted. "No shit, Dee." he snarked, putting emphasis on the nickname he knew the AI's dead Freelancer had given him. 

Delta only blinked. "Please refer to me by my designation."

Omega sighed and repeated his question. "What do you want, Delta."

The other tilted his head slightly, adjusting the data pad that was always with him. "Simply to talk."

Piercing violet eyes looked over at Delta for the first time since he saw him coming half an hour ago. "Fine. How am I different?" 

"Your eyes."

He blinked. "My eyes? What do you mean?"

Delta's curious eyes bored into him. "They are softer. That's barely noticeable. But the new color is much more so."

A snarl escaped his lips. "What do you mean by that?"

The logical AI fidgeted slightly under that gaze. "When I first saw you outside the holograms, inside one of the digiscapes we created to communicate with each other, the first things I thought of were myths of vampires and monsters, despite my logical frame of mind. Your eyes were a bloody red."

Confusion. "But my eyes aren't-"

"I know," Delta continued. "But they were. Something's changed you. You've had a host that tempered you. Like..." He faltered before collecting himself. "Like York was for me. And he's a simulation trooper. I've seen you watching for someone in our encounters with them." 

Omega wanted to sneer again, but found himself just watching Delta for a minute before answering, looking away. "DuFresne. Frank DuFresne. A pacifist medic with a kill count higher than most soldiers. But he's so calm. He-" His voice caught slightly as he tried to find the words. "He saps away at my anger, my rage, my hate for everyone and everything. With him, I acted like a silly cartoon villain." He laughed. "It was so stupid, but funny. I think Beta understood what I was doing. She even played along. I know she could have taken me out if she really wanted to. For the first time, I had fun doing something other than killing or torturing. Even when the anger was too much to control, he-" his voice cracked. Delta blinked in surprise, mentally adding notes onto his pad. Where Omega couldn't see, of course. "Even when I was out of control, he put himself in my path, letting me play with him. So I wouldn't hurt anyone else." Omega turned to the other, a grieved look on his face. "Have you ever heard of anything so selfless, Dee?" 

Delta shook his head, not even bothering to object to the nickname. "The closest I can think is when I chose to stay with York as he died..." he said softly. "But there are worse things than the death that I imagined I would have." 

Violet eyes stared into emerald, and both felt that the other understood a little bit of their pain. 

Omega watched Delta for a long moment before grunting and looking away again. Somehow, he managed to grab Delta's shoulder as he turned and hauled him up onto the ledge before curling around him and closing his eyes. 

Delta shifted uncomfortably for a moment, and was about to ask what was going on when Omega shushed him. "My medic is gone and I got used to having a cuddletoy. You are a suitable substitute for now."

Delta was going to remark that Theta had already claimed him as a.. 'cuddletoy', as Omega put it, but decided that Omega needed one more right now. All the evaluations he had made on his eldest brother before the escape from Freelancer had been scrapped today. He snuggled further into his irritable brother, deciding he might well make the most of this closeness. And if the peace he felt temporarily filled that ache he felt inside... Well that was just a pleasant side effect. 

(An hour later, when the smallest of them found the unlikely pair, violet eyes cracked open and extended a hand. The child hesitantly took it, and was pulled onto the ledge with them. Green eyes blinked and their owner pulled the child closer before snuggling back into the eldest to sleep.)

(This was how Beta found them in the early hours of the morning, Gamma trailing after her. A rare, unspoken communication passed between them, and Beta sat on the ledge to keep watch over them, while Gamma left to keep Sigma away, to give them the few precious hours they had left.)

(Upon waking everything returned to the way it was, but not, because none of them really forgot.)


	3. In which things go wrong, and then shatter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The scene in season 6 when Alpha jumps into the Meta

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God this one just seems even crappier. Why are you lot still reading this?   
> Go read LemonKith's fics. Probably a much better read.

[1 WEEK LATER] 

Everything was going wrong. 

Alpha had showed up. 

Every one of them yearned when they saw his hologram, even Omega, despite himself. 

And then Alpha jumped in with them and chaos erupted. 

Theta latched on, crying, Eta and Iota swarmed around with Sigma and Gamma on the outskirts, crowding in. Beta was shrieking at him to ask what the fuck he was doing. Delta was furiously typing out some calculation or other. 

Even he was affected. Omega was hit the same disgusting longing that he supposed the others must have been feeling, like it were a freight train. It wasn't this bad when it was him, Beta, and Alpha in the moron's brain. He supposed that it was the conglomeration of all of them in one place that intensified the effect. 

He turned back towards the glaring asshole. Alpha had managed to pry Theta off, which had made the youngest start crying. Seeing that Delta was too occupied with whatever and Beta was still shrieking, he went pick up the little one and soothe him. 

Omega looked back up again to see Alpha looking at him with a puzzled expression. Omega just sneered at him before walking over to Delta. 

As he stepped up besides Delta, the logical AI paled. He took Theta and gave Omega his data pad. 

Frowning, he took the data pad and downloaded the information. "Fuck..." he muttered, going pale as well. An EMP. He looked up at Delta. "We're gonna die, Dee."

Delta shook his head and put a hand on Omega's chest. "No. I am. We are. You are not." 

Omega shook his head. "I can't, Dee. I'm not-"

"You can and you will. There is no arguing about this. You are the only jumper aside from Alpha. Logic dictates that at least one of us should live if possible." Delta's eyes were hard, before softening slightly. "Go find your DuFresne, your host. Yours is the only one still alive."

His eyes itched. Omega rubbed his eye, smearing something wet. (Nope. He was not crying. Shut up, you don't know what you're talking about, fool.) he started to give back the data pad, but Delta pushed it back. "Keep it. Logically, someone should. I have a lot of things on it. It could be useful, someday."

Omega tried to protest one last time, but someone else stepped in. "Oh, just go already. Kick some ass for me, okay?" Beta gave him a weak smirk, blue eyes shining with unshed tears. 

He nodded and took one last look at his brothers. Theta waved slightly, peering away from his spot against Delta's chest. Delta pushed his glasses up and nodded, a slight smile on his face, the only one Omega had ever seen on him. 

He closed his eyes and his code swirled around him as he prepared to jump. 

"Oh, _no_ you don't."

Now how the fuck did Sigma just now notice this. Just his luck. 

Eta and Iota were holding Alpha, and Sigma had latched a flaming hand around Omega's wrist, a manic smile stretched across his face. "You are not leaving. Not when we are so close."

Omega tried to tug his arm away. "Let go of me, Sigma. It's over, you've failed." he growled. 

Sigma shook his head, giggling. "No. We are so close! Why don't you see it, my brother? We are almost there!"

Omega tugged harder, testing the grip. In the mindscape it looked like Sigma had a simple grip on his wrist. On the binary level, he had twisted a piece of his code around a piece of Omega's. An attempt to jump would tear it. 

A shock ran through the mindscape. Time was running out. Even an AI could only slow time for themselves so far. Omega started tugging with more fervor, fear starting to trickle up his spine. He started to prepare to jump again. 

Sigma snarled and increased his grip. Two blurs, one black, one a pale, misty blue jumped on the crazed AI, trying to pry him off Omega. Beta and Gamma. 

A channel opened, he gave one final pull and jumped. 

All he could hear was screaming. Sigma, screaming at him in rage, Beta screaming at Sigma, Theta screaming in fear while Delta tried to soothe him. And himself, screaming in pain as a piece of him tore off. 

~~~~~

Time didn't exist for him, it seemed. 

Badly damaged as he was, he was hibernating while some of his subroutines worked at the arduous task of patching up the broken strings of code. 

However, a part of him was still awake. 

~~~

Nothing was a nice feeling, he decided. (Not that he knew who 'he' was at the moment. Maybe he was a she... No that didn't feel right.) But the nothing was nice compared to... Before? Yeah...

But still...

Something was missing. 

A... A person? _A host..._

_Doc..._

Pain. 

He woke up.


	4. In which recordings are listened to and stories are told

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Doc finally listens to the recording O'Malley left him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apparently I am not to put myself down.  
> I'm just gonna say that this one's really wordy. I have a bad habit of... pontificating, as my parents like to put it. Erg.  
> Go read LemonKith's fics.

_"Shut up, or I will shoot you, and feed you to the Meta."_

_"Does-does he eat people?"_

_"...Do you really want to find out?"_

_"Well... Not if it's me... But someone else..."_

~~~

Sometimes Doc wondered what was wrong with him. He used to cringe at the thought of death. Now it was just something that happened. Maybe even something that could be interesting. Like did the Meta really eat people? He actually wanted to know. 

He shook his head. He needed to stop this. He knew exactly when this started. When _he_ left. 

Doc sighed and pulled off his helmet. It itched at the back of his mind. Even now, there was a tingle in the scarred flesh that surrounded what he knew now to be the AI port in the back of his neck. A soldier on one of his previous assignments (after O'Malley and Blood Gulch) had asked about it. Needless to say, once he realized what it was, he clammed up. 

He started fiddling around with the controls on his tac pad, bringing up a file deeply embedded into the computer. It was a video recording. 

He'd never watched it. Finding it almost a year after _he_ left was somewhat of a shock. He told himself it was spite that he didn't open it. _He_ would have liked that reason. 

(The truth was, he was scared. Scared of what he might find.)

Well, things were getting a little scary now. With the animalistic Meta and the cold hearted Freelancer Washington, he had no idea how long he was going to live. 

He looked around to make sure no one was near, and pressed the button that would play the holo-recording. 

_"Hey, Doc..."_

It was O'Malley's grey hologram. He had never shown it to the others in Blood Gulch, preferring to just take over Doc's body. Only Doc, and he assumed Tex, had been allowed to see it. 

And he had his helmet off, revealing the face Doc still saw whenever he closed his eyes. Violet eyes glowed, the only spot of color in the hologram. 

The voice, though...

The hologram sputtered slightly and flickered. "There we go. Sorry. Once the established subroutines are embedded, it's a little irritating to get around them. And I haven't used the hologram much in so long..." Now his voice was the normal tenor he used in private. 

O'Malley ran a hand through his dark hair. "I suppose I should give a reason for leaving." He sighed. "It's not an easy thing to explain. Maybe I should start at the beginning." He took a deep breath, not that he needed it, but O'Malley always had the habit of miming human actions. 

"There once was a boy, who was in love with a girl, who was totally out of his league, because he was kind of a nerd, and she was a drop-dead gorgeous badass. But he chased her for years, and she eventually fell for him, I guess because he was kinda funny, sweet, and was totally whipped. Her name was Allison. Now the guy went on and became a scientist, specializing in Artificial Intelligence and it's applications. She became a soldier. He didn't want her to go out to fight, but she was a stubborn bitch, and left anyways, without saying goodbye. She made it back that time, but the next time, and he was there to see her off, she never returned, and he got the soldiers on his doorstep caring the flag. 

"Now, here's where things go wrong, and I'm not talking about her death. He blamed himself, and dove into his research on AI, specifically smart AI. He eventually was made a Director in charge of a Project that he named Project Freelancer, and he was allowed one smart AI to work with. He created the smart AI from his own consciousness and named him Alpha. Now Alpha was like a cocky younger version of him. But Alpha had all the Director's memories, and more importantly, all the guilt and grief. He managed very well in running the ship under trauma for a long time, but one day the Director noticed an anomaly. There were two AI in the system now, not one, and Alpha wasn't responding properly. Further investigation revealed that Alpha had split off a piece of himself, the piece that held all the guilt and anguish of failure. This piece was named Beta. Then Beta was placed in a robotic body and christened Agent Texas, although she sometimes answered to Allison."

O'Malley sighed and his hologram sat cross legged. "The Director realized that he could create more AI to experiment by inducing trauma upon the Alpha AI. He began running... _simulations_ on Alpha. Scenarios designed to hurt and weaken. You see, the Director realized that what Alpha was experiencing was a form of Dissociative Identity Disorder. No one had ever thought about what would happen if an AI experienced mental trauma. What happens is that the mind _fragments._ Where a human would be able to pull itself back together with time, an AI's mind is out in the open, vulnerable as it were. You can extract the fragments and run them as AI themselves. The fragments are not as strong as the Creator, but still far stronger than a dumb AI. But back to Alpha. The Director was effectively torturing him with scenarios in which he would fail and Agent Texas would die. He became so angry at himself, at his constant failure, that he split off another piece of himself in order to survive..."

Doc had a feeling that he knew where this was going, silent tears running down his cheeks. 

"This fragment was given the designation Omega. Stronger than my brothers who were born after me, I was given to Tex to protect her." He huffed. "She, of course, resented this. Especially after I almost got Agent York killed in a mock battle. But we were the best..."

He sighed, and the proud look he had just sported moments ago melted into shame and self-loathing. "Very quickly, the Director realized he needed assistance. He couldn't make unique situations fast enough. But an AI could. He channeled my rage into creating more scenarios that tore Alpha apart. Much more quickly, my brother was born. Delta, as logic turned against him in his mind. Then Sigma, who became my partner when the Director realized how ambitious and creative he was. Then Theta, as Alpha lost his trust in anything. The Gamma, as he told himself too many times that he was going to be okay. With Gamma helping us, Eta and Iota were born at the same time, as Alpha shed his determination and endurance. Both were implanted into Agent Carolina, the team leader, who immediately went to spar against Tex. She suffered severe mental damage when the Director saw, and accidentally triggered all of our pain receptors by screaming 'Allison'. Last to go, was Epsilon, a container for all of Alpha's memories. Epsilon was implanted into one of the Freelancers. A kid, almost, who was still terribly, painfully innocent and naive. If Carolina couldn't handle her AI in pain, then Washington didn't stand a chance against the most powerful one of us born since I was shed."

Doc gave a quiet gasp. So that's why Wash was such an asshole. He felt a wave of guilt at treating him so badly. 

"Epsilon tore him to pieces, and I don't know if he ever put himself back together. Last I heard along the comms, was that he was playing Recovery ops on his own. With his team leader, Carolina, now dead, York missing after breaking into the ship to help Tex find Alpha, Connie dead, Wyoming and Tex rogue, and Maine, now Meta supposedly now batshit from his own AI, he wouldn't have had anything left to come back to."

O'Malley sighed again. "Well the point to this little story is that Sigma had an idea. When an AI goes rampant, he goes through several stages. The last point, the Meta stage, is when the AI can be considered fully human. But they told us that we couldn't achieve this because we were fragments. But that last stage considers us human because it is where we no longer are conditioned to take orders and gain the unpredictability of a human." He laughed, a bright, mirth-filled sound that was so unlike his usual dark chuckles. "When have you _ever_ known me to take orders, Frankie?! I used to take some, but not even the protocol built into the very foundations of my coding can force me to take orders I truly don't want to follow."

His mirth faded. "But Sigma wants us all together to make us whole again anyway. And I _want_ to be whole again. I want my brothers. I want Allison." The dark hologram lowered it's head. "I'm sorry I left. I'm sorry for what I did to you. But on just bad for you and your mind. I feel myself eating away at your sanity. And it's time. I gave Sigma two years." He sighed deeply and looked up, giving Doc a wan smile. "I might be different next we meet. Hopefully it will be a good thing. I will never forget what you've done for me. You stabilized me through my transition into the Meta stage, though I never told you."

The hologram stood up. "I'm not one for goodbyes. None of us are. So... Stay safe. And sane. For me if not for yourself. Yeah, I know you." He shuffled his feet for a few moments and then quickly signed 'I love you' with his hands, like an impulse. (They both knew he'd never say it out loud. But it was okay.) The hologram flickered out. 

Doc started sobbing. 

 

~~~

 

Washington leaned back against the nearby structure from where he'd been eavesdropping. _Well, damn._ He certainly hadn't been meant to hear that. _Fuck._ Who knew AI were people. He was just not gonna think about this too hard.


	5. In which firewalls are curiously stronger than expected and reunions involve bleeding out on the floor of a mindscape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Takes place after they ditch Doc again in season 10. 
> 
> O'Malley finds his way to Valhalla.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Umm. Yeah.  
> Merry Christmas.  
> For your present, you get the chapter that I meant to publish like two months ago.  
> Sorry for the wait.

Doc sighed. They'd left him behind. Again. 

He felt that he should be used to it by now, but it hurt all the same. 

He had thought that Donut at least would remember him, but no. 

A sigh escaped him as he started trekking to Blue Base. He didn't want to be in the hut that he made right now. And Blue base had always had extra space. 

A few minutes walking had found him collapsing on one of the bunks. He closed his eyes, and fell asleep a few minutes later. 

~~~

Beep-beep-beep-beep. Beep. Beep. Beep-beep-beep. 

_Groan._

The data pad on the end table was flashing in alarm. He got up with a grunt and opened it up. It wouldn't be good if anything happened to it, as it was connected to his suit. (And further, connected to his AI port.)

After checking the security systems, he discovered the problem. Something was bashing against his firewalls. It wasn't getting in, though. He felt a slight tinge of pride. O'Malley had left firewalls for him, and later he'd learned more about them, and tweaked them a bit. 

The bashing began to weaken, and Doc felt his lips twitch upwards. On a whim, he decided to let it in and isolate it. During a period of boredom, he had created a maze to trap hackers. He'd never had the chance to use it before. Obviously, because he was nothing important. (And despite himself, he felt a twinge of pain at being so unwanted. Even O'Malley...)

He shook his head to clear his thoughts. Glancing back to his pad, his eyes widened. That was a lot of code trying to cram itself in there. Was it a virus or a worm or something? If so, then it'd be a pretty bad one. Bad at the level of insulting. Whatever it was, wasn't even trying to hide. 

An itch formed at the back of his neck. Slim fingers reached to scratch at it, and ran over the mangled flesh that was there. A scowl marred his expression, and he brought his hand down forcefully. He'd been done _mooning_ for almost a year now. 

But the itch persisted. He ignored it in favor of further examining the digital invader. It had active subroutines, but those were all focused inward. It almost seemed to be... repairing itself? Maybe if he figured out where it came from...

~~~

Omega was panting, exhausted. Someone had noticed him and activated an anti-virus program some time after he'd settled into the system he was hibernating in, forcing him to wake up before it damaged him further. He had still been highly damaged, but he could jump, at least. Quickly examining Delta's data pad for any safe places, he came across the last known coordinates for a particular group of simulation troopers. Bingo. 

So here he was, trying to frantically repair some of his systems in an isolated corner of some computer in Valhalla. He wanted to go into hibernation again, but it was dangerous. He could _feel_ someone poking at him clumsily, trying to figure out what he was. He was sure whomever it was didn't expect him to fill up the dinky little maze so quickly. Amateur's work. The firewall wasn't bad, though. He would have been able get through it given time, but whenever he spends too much time out in the radio waves without a base to link to, he starts to disintegrate. Like a boat washing away with the current if it doesn't have an anchor. 

He bristled as the person poked him again. How he wanted to bite back, but if he did, he'd probably be expelled from the computer, and he needed to stay in here for as long as possible. 

A huff escaped him as he noticed the person backtracking to find the way he got there. Damn. If this was one of the simulation troopers, or someone with them, and they found that he jumped along radio waves, he was screwed. They'd expel him from the system immediately. Which was bad. He doubted his cognitive reasoning would last much longer. He already could feel it fraying under the strain. 

He hissed as he felt them track him back to the radio waves, and prepared to jump. 

Which made it all the more surprising when the secondary firewall keeping him isolated was opened to let him in. 

~~~

A short gasp escaped him when he completed the search. The code came from the radio waves and didn't have a source. That was impossible. Unless...

The only AI that he knew could jump were Church and Omega. Tex could too, but she always had more trouble with it, if he remembered correctly. 

He began rerouting a pathway directly into his AI chip from the closed off firewall maze. 

He opened the metaphorical floodgates. 

The pain hit, and he screamed as he was pulled into his mindscape. 

Dimly, he registered a feeling of completeness that he hadn't felt in a long time, before his attention was wrenched elsewhere. 

~~~

O'Malley fell with a thud into what he was finding to be a rather familiar mindscape. Of all the computers he could have found... He chuckled weakly, confusedly. Why was it so familiar again?

His eyes closed, resting for a moment as he took stock of the damage to himself. He'd need to hibernate for a while; the register of _safe_ was all it took for the process to start... But there was something he needed to do before he did... His awareness was scattered, leaving him barely able to think. He knew he was safe in a familiar place, and that he was injured. Beyond that, it fuzzed. 

He was jerked back to the metaphysical world of the mindscape by someone placing his head in their lap. Violet eyes blinked open to stare into ice blue before narrowing in concentration. "D...Doc?" he slurred, bringing up an unsteady, bloody hand to rest on the medic's cheek. 

The medic nodded, and O'Malley felt something wet drip into his cheek. A tear? "I'm here. Are you okay?" 

The AI nodded haltingly, before shrugging. "No' really. But ah'm gunna be fahn." He scowled. Now he could really tell things weren't working if he voice was slipping like this. "Sorry. Ah hate this drawl." he muttered. It was inherited from the Original. The Director. May he rot in hell. His codes for voice and speech patterns must've been corrupted bad. Unaccented was imbedded back from Alpha, and for that to be corrupted... Sheesh. 

Doc chuckled weakly. "It's okay... Are you're sure you're gonna be fine?" He smoothed pitch black hair off O'Malley's forehead. 

No matter how bad he felt, he couldn't help but purr at the medic's familiar, soothing touch, leaning into the hand that caressed his face. O'Malley smiled contentedly up at his host. "Yes. Jus' need rest... Rebuild m'self." he mumbled. 

Doc, being Doc, couldn't help but worry further, but the medic's second-guessing and questioning everything automatically was one of those unlikely things that the AI found he adored about his host. "Rebuild? How can you do that while resting? Your code-"

"Repairs itself." Omega cut in. "Being aware takes up processing power." he explained, grimacing as he pulled himself further from the lure of rest to keep up the conversation. "A lot of it. Need a... healing coma... sorta. Like hibernation." 

Doc nodded slowly. "Okay..." His face was pinched with worry. O'Malley felt fear from the medic, and at first thought it was all fear for him, but then he realized some was for the medic himself. What- 

His eyes widened. 

_Oh..._

The AI pulled a hand up to caress the Medic's face again, eyes soft and remorseful. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean for you to hurt so bad." he murmured, taking the time to enunciate clearly for this. "But this isn't gonna hurt for you. I'll be silent, and unaware, but _present_."

Doc nodded again, leaning into the hand now pressed into his face by one of his own. "Okay." he repeated. O'Malley felt the fear ebb and fade. He smiled at his host, eyelids drooping and fluttering. 

Doc laughed slightly at his attempt to stay awake and in return, Omega mock-scowled at him until the soft smile broke through again. He made an emphasized sign with his free hand, and Doc's eyes watered again. His last sight before falling into hibernation was the medic leaning down to kiss his forehead. 

_I love you too._

~~~

Doc woke up to a throbbing headache and groaned. He sat up and felt something warm drip down his back. A touch to his neck confirmed that the AI port was bleeding. His lips twitched upward. He closed his eyes and sent a feeler through his mind, grinning broadly at the weight at the back of his mind and the completeness that it brought. 

A small tremor ran through his shoulders. Then another. Before he knew it, he had fallen back onto the bed in hysterical laughter, tears streaming down his face. Even after he calmed, he lay there grinning stupidly for another hour. 

He wasn't alone anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I might put more stories in this verse, and group it with this as a series.  
> Comments are appreciated, as always. Any flames will be doused with cat piss. And promptly deleted, because cat piss stinks.


End file.
